Gulliver's travel - Jack Black Directed by Rob Letterman

Another Year - Directed by Mike Leigh

Another Year - Directed by Mike Leigh

Femmine contro maschi - Directed by Fausto Brizzi

Femmine contro maschi - Directed by Fausto Brizzi

Another Year by Mike Leigh, a year seen from the standpoint of a mature couple, of their friends, of their 30-year-old son who finally finds a partner. Seasons rotate, vegetables ripen in the orchard, human relations evolve.

A must-see, as Leigh, without doubt one of the biggest British directors, is a true master in portraying with sensitivity and passion the soul of his characters, played by his closest collaborators: Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Peter Wight.

Another film dealing with personal emotions, shot with a very different style, is Biutiful by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu. The author of 21 grams follows the tragedy of a man, Javier Bardem, who is dying of cancer. “After traveling around the world with Babel, I thought I had explored enough multiple lines, broken structures and interlacing stories. Biutiful is everything I haven’t done before: a linear story that revolves around a character.” commented Iñarritu.

On the backdrop, the Barcelona of the poor, of shacks, of illegal aliens. And here’s a title for which, maybe, 3D will not go to waste: Gulliver’s Travels by Rob Letterman with Jack Black. That is to say, a contemporary revisitation of Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece, that seems to have lost all its satirical power in favor of screwball comedy. For this movie Black got a nomination for the Razzie Award, the prize (and this is satirical) that goes to the worst actor of the year.

Femmine contro maschi is the second chapter of the saga directed by Fausto Brizzi (who optimized shooting times and costs making the two films together), the spin-off of Maschi contro femmine. Again, four couples are dealing with the joys and pains of life as a couple. Starring Serena Autieri, Claudio Bisio, Nancy Brilli, Valentino Picone, Salvatore Ficarra, Francesca Inaudi, Luciana Littizzetto, Emilio Solfrizzi.